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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

When we become more confident in our speaking abilites we sometimes make the same word choices over and over again. This is often frustrating for English learners who haven’t achieved the rich vocabulary that they desire. It takes time for this so continue working on it.

We need word power to be more versatile communicators, to create imagery, and to express our thoughts more effectively. There are at least 10 different ways to say simple things like “hello”, “goodbye”, and “thank you”. There are several ways to express most anything by applying figures of speech (similes, metaphors, euphemisms), phrasal verbs, idioms, synonyms, and descriptive words. Use your head, get creative, and say it a different way.

Let’s visualize a person named Justin who enjoys a good meal:

Justin likes to eat. He’s a real foodie with a very healthy appetite. Last night he consumed copious amounts of mashed potatoes. He’s not a pig or a glutton although he is voracious at times, inhaling anything on his plate. Look at him in this photo. That hamburger is hat-sized! It seems that Justin has a hollow leg but he’s most likely just a hungry guy.